Lillooet, B.C. has always been the kind of place where people go looking for something.

Once, it was gold. Decades later, Ora Cogan was winding through those same hills in her godmother’s truck, soul music filling the cab, when Hard Hearted Woman began to emerge.

“I was listening to Bill Withers a lot and other artists I think of as being genuine and loving,” Cogan tells Atwood Magazine. “That sentiment of being genuine and loving was an anchor.”

She didn’t start out knowing exactly what the album would become. She was still writing after Formless, letting the songs unfold until they started pointing in a different direction.

“I had a completely different vision of where I was going and what I wanted to do for the record,” she says. “I was going to write this heavy, very spacey and weird record. I felt the songs coming together in the way they did and decided to honor that. There was a pull towards tenderness when I was writing.”

“I knew that this record was taking shape when I started getting emotional about the songs,” says Cogan, who’s currently touring in support of the album.

Hard Hearted Woman - Ora Cogan — Hard Hearted Woman – Ora Cogan

“I was working through my own feelings about being human, about living in a heartbreaking world,” she recalls. “I was thinking about what my responsibilities are and how to try and find understanding. I was reckoning with a lot of the pain I’ve been feeling that I know many of us feel right now.”

Those questions became part of the foundation of Hard Hearted Woman, a ten-track collection that found Cogan trading some of the heavier, more experimental ideas she had in mind for a softer and more reflective palette.

The result is a record that builds on ideas Cogan has been exploring for years. Folk, country, and psychedelic rock all weave through Hard Hearted Woman. Those influences have always existed side by side for her, though Cogan says she has little control over which parts of her musical world find their way into a song.

“I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, from traditional folk music to drone,” she reflects. “There are so many artists and genres and traditional forms of music that have had an influence on me. I don’t always have control over what comes through, and I’m always surprised at what people hear.”

The same approach has guided Cogan well beyond the studio. The Canadian indie folk singer/songwriter has moved through different worlds – growing up on a Salish Sea island, apprenticing as a silversmith, touring, stepping away from music for years and eventually finding her way back.

Since releasing her debut album Sparrow in 2005, Cogan has built a catalogue of 11 releases that trace her evolving approach to folk, experimental music and songwriting. Her path has also taken her far beyond music – from Vancouver’s experimental scene to environmental justice work and human rights-focused photojournalism during her years away from performing.

After her father’s death, Cogan moved to Nanaimo, B.C., where she began reconnecting with music through collaborations with local musicians who would eventually become part of her band.

“I guess I’ve had a pretty weird life,” she says. “I feel like having a lot of chaos in life, moving around, working these different jobs and crossing paths with so many different kinds of art communities has kept me curious and open. I feel like there are infinite possibilities in music and that anything is possible.”

That curiosity also shows up in the places around her. Rivers, oceans, hills and long stretches of road all play a role in the mood of the album.

“Sometimes it feels like the river is a visual score,” she says. “Looking at the pace of the currents in the river, the birds using the river like a highway to fly over, the trees rocking in the wind. The world can be very musical.”

Ora Cogan "Division" music video still — Ora Cogan “Division” music video still

Now based in Nanaimo, B.C., Cogan has found plenty of inspiration in the city and the landscape around it.

She says it has a lot of personality, but it’s the ocean and the river that have become some of her closest creative companions.

That connection shaped the way she made the album, too. With a studio of her own, Cogan had a space where she could work on songs and bring other musicians together.

“I feel incredibly lucky,” she says. “There are a lot of wild musicians in Nanaimo.”

Longtime collaborators bassist Nancy Pittet and drummer Finn Smith brought the openness and curiosity that Cogan says helped define the record.

“They are both really brilliant and kind humans who are insanely talented and playful when it comes to sound,” she adds. “It feels really great to work with such open-minded and passionate artists.” The same went for everyone involved – each person added something of their own to the songs.

Cogan tracked some of the instrumentation and most of her vocals in her own studio, giving her a space where songs and collaborations could develop naturally.

“It feels amazing to have a space of my own to build songs in, getting to have friends over to work together whenever it feels right,” she says. “I just got a tape machine set up now too, so it’s getting more interesting.”

She also worked with acclaimed composer David Parry, who co-produced the album and helped bring its sound together. As Cogan puts it, he’s a wizard.

That curiosity hasn’t slowed down. Lately, she’s been dropping into Irish trad sessions in pubs, learning Irish and Scottish fiddle tunes and taking a workshop with Canadian composer Sarah Davachi about how sound interacts and resonates.

“I am all over the place,” she says. “I’m just trying to learn as much as I can in a lot of directions.”

And with Hard Hearted Woman now out in the world, Cogan plans to carry that energy onto the road.

“We are going to tour the hell out of this record.”

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